Mehbooba Mufti calls Election Commission a ‘Puppet’ of BJP

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday alleged that the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been subverted to a level that it has become a branch of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Mufti, while talking to reporters in Anantnag, said that ECI was a mute spectator as BJP leaders used religion to garner votes in the Himachal election campaign.

“The ECI has become a branch of the BJP. The way BJP leadership campaigned in Himachal in the name of religion was propaganda, and the commission watched as a mute spectator. Muslims have been openly threatened in the country, and the EC has been silent,” she said.

She alleged that ECI was no longer an independent body like it used to be in the past.

“The world would invite the election commissioner of the country to guide them in conducting (fair) elections. But today, our election commission has been subverted to an extent that it has become a puppet,” she said, adding that “That is why the election commission will hold elections (in J&K) only when the BJP gives it a go-ahead.”

The PDP chief also lashed out at the government over the plight of Kashmiri Pandit employees, hired under the Prime Minister’s package, who have been demanding their relocation from the valley.

“The current government is turning everything topsy-turvy. Our Kashmiri Pandits have been continuously seeking relocation to Jammu till the situation improves in Kashmir. But they (the government) have been either holding back their salaries or their rations,” she said.

She accused the BJP of only using the miseries of Kashmiri Pandits for garnering votes.

“They have no concern whether you are a Kashmiri Pandit or anybody else. They only want to win elections or garner votes. There is no other politics for them,” she said.

HT attempted to get a reaction from BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur over the allegations but there was no response.